by David D. Horowitz.
I’ve conversed with various friends and acquaintances over the years who feel human beings are essentially greedy, wasteful, and violent. Some even feel earth would benefit were human beings to become extinct. While I share some of their skepticism about human virtue, I tend to praise and appreciate people. We might not always maintain due consideration or a vibrant culture, but we nevertheless produce much worth cherishing. And we are not simply interchangeable with other species.
Human beings, whatever their faults or virtues, profoundly impact earth’s environment. Birds construct remarkably durable and safely positioned nests, but none appear to construct factories, oil refineries, museums, and concert halls; nor do we see trout build ferry terminals, crows design airports, or deer build architectural masterpieces like Frank Lloyd Wright’s “Fallingwater.” I can already hear some of my skeptical friends claim: And this is why I prefer animals to humans! Thankfully they don’t construct factories. Who needs them! Given that the same people might own and cherish a laptop, cell phone, car, convection oven, VCR, and DVD player, I daresay they could more deeply appreciate factories where such goods are produced. My friends might play videos about environmental sustainability rather than superhero weaponry, but they still use and implicitly embrace high-tech gadgetry.
That point aside, my environmentally conscious friends and I share important common ground. Yes, people can learn much about and from the marvelous creatures with whom we share the earth. And, yes, concurrent with our distinctive talent for large-scale construction, mining and refining natural resources, and reshaping earth are responsibilities to consider consequences and innovate solutions.
Partnering with nature, human beings can both enjoy leisure and respect nature. For example, I can enjoy seeing a major league baseball game at a large stadium, but to get there I can take light rail rather than waste fossil fuels getting stuck in a traffic jam. I can eat a veggie dog at the game and discard any remaining food or paper in recycling and composting receptacles that team ownership provides at the stadium. Moreover, I might live in a downtown condominium and enjoy the seafront view from my living room window, but my condo might consist of only two or three rooms. Why must I live in a vast luxury suite? I might want to raise a family, but one or two children might be more than adequate. With world population significantly contributing to global warming, why not voluntarily limit my family’s size?
Likewise, I might want to own a seal point Siamese cat, but I could feed it organic cat food and compost its excreted waste. I could use biodegradable litter for the cat’s litter box. Thirty years ago, suggesting this might have marked me as an environmental extremist and eccentric, but this is now becoming mainstream in much of the United States and the world. And this is good. Whether as a microbiologist learning how to use microorganisms to help clean a pond without chemicals or as a clinical psychologist suggesting a convalescent home allow a loving, trained therapy dog to roam in parts of the facility, people are innovating ways to treat animals not merely as products or servants but as partners and friends. Now, of course, I would not suggest children try to pet a cougar in the wild or ignore the threat of a rattlesnake. We can, however, try to respect these creatures’ habitats rather than simply see in them potential trophies, meat, coats, and boots. Finding and maintaining a workable balance poses challenges—but human beings have a special talent among animals for discussing problems and innovating solutions. Now, we might need to have fewer children and live in smaller spaces. We’re still adapting to changing circumstances and absorbing greater knowledge. Balance is not static; one has to adjust to maintain it. At its best this is how one can justify calling human beings “rational”—not as coldly unfeeling or smugly disdainful, but as synthesizing insights to help us and other creatures thrive in a healthy balance.